Johns Creek PD disputes claims of mishandling murder-suicide

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. - Johns Creek police are setting the record straight about their investigation into the murder-suicide of a local family.

Police believe Shiv Grover killed his wife and two kids before taking his own life in February.

In an investigative summary released this week, a Fulton County Medical Examiner's investigator takes Johns Creek police to task for not notifying the medical examiner after officers found the Grover family dead.

But police are defending their decision and are adamant it had no bearing on the case's outcome.
"On any scene, there are differences of opinion the way things are done," said Johns Creek police Lt. Chris Byers.

Byers is clearing the air about a Fulton County Medical Examiner investigator's complaint his department didn't follow the rules after discovering four bodies in an apartment off Abbott's Bridge Road in February.

Investigators believe Grover killed his wife and kids, then himself.

In a report obtained by Channel 2 Action News, a medical examiner investigator said she learned of the deaths from the media, not from police, as required by state law.

The medical examiner states, "I advised them they were to notify us of the death when they were aware there was a death and not wait until they removed everything we would need to see and then call us."

"We knew how long this crime scene was gonna take. We were on this crime scene for 18 hours doing a very detailed sketch of the scene," Byers said.

Byers said once medical examiners investigators arrived, they had to wait for detectives to finish their work before removing the bodies.

"In the future, if they want to be there waiting with us, then absolutely the way we'll do it," Byers said.

Byers points out the medical examiner agrees with detectives the incident was a murder-suicide. He said not calling the county had no impact on the investigation.

"There is no compromising of the integrity of the scene that has even been brought into question," Byers said.

While this was one of the police department's first murder investigations, Byers said all of the detectives and crime scene techs who worked the case came from other departments and have worked dozens of murder scenes before this one.

He bristles at the notion the department was learning how to handle the scene.